Apple developer payout jumps to $8 billion

This week in speaking with the crowd at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, Tim Cook let it be known that Apple has reached a new high mark in cash paid out to developers. While Apple announced back in early January that they'd paid around $7 billion dollars to developers in all, Tim Cook announced today that Apple has paid out more than $8 billion. That's one massive up-swing in a very short amount of time!

It was also made clear by Cook that it's not just with developer payouts that Apple is succeeding. China was spoken about as well, with Cook saying "when I look at what Apple has done in China, I think it is hard for anyone to evaluate, and say it's not impressive. Apple has gone from a few hundred million in revenue in one year to $3 billion in the next, to $13 billion the next - we're adding over $10 billion every year!" Cook was more than willing to let the audience know that he was pumped up about Apple's current path.

Speaking also about what Apple would and would not do to earn cash, specifically with "affordable" products, Cook let it be known that the company's "North Star" is "a great product." Cook continued speaking about how they'd actually tried to make cheaper products, but found that instead of creating a Mac for under $500, it made more sense to make the iPad. Thus that product ecosystem was born.

Cook also had a question asked of him about limits in each of their most important "categories" of products. The Apple CEO spoke simply: "There's that word limit. We don't have it in Apple's vocabulary." Cook continued, "When I zoom out and look at the smartphone market in particular, what I see is a market that is projected to double in the next few years." A mighty powerful claim for the company that's been so very undeniably present in the smart device market since its inception.

Read more about these and additional subjects spoken about by Cook this week at the conference via the timeline below - and let us know what you think!